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TAG: federalism

The Public Law and Policy Research Unit’s Dr Gabrielle Appleby, Anna Olijnyk and Professor John Williams have made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on the Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Exposure Draft Bill. The submission is restricted to the constitutional issues that are raised by the proposed legislation. […]

Last week, the Abbott Government released the Terms of Reference for a White Paper on Reform of the Australian Federation. The White Paper follows consideration of Australia’s federal relations by the National Commission of Audit earlier this year. A team of scholars from the University of Adelaide’s Public Law and Policy Research Unit – Dr […]

In the last Commonwealth ARC grant rounds, Professor John Williams and Dr Gabrielle Appleby from the Adelaide Law School, together with their colleague from the Australian National University, Associate Professor James Stellios, were awarded funding to undertake a project entitled ‘Law, Order and Federalism’. Below is a short outline of their research. Threats of criminal […]

On Thursday, 20 June 2013, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs held a ‘Constitutional Roundtable’ at Parliament House, Canberra. The Committee was joined by a number of constitutional experts to discuss topical issues in relation to the Constitution and its reform. The Roundtable was open to the public and […]

Australians are well accustomed to the often infantile politicking that goes on between the Commonwealth and the States, particularly when it involves governments of different political persuasions. In this post, Dr Gabrielle Appleby considers an incident in Queensland last week where the Queensland Liberal-National Government refused to allow federal Labor Education Minister Peter Garrett access to […]

Is COAG a failing, overburdened, dysfunctional farce? Adelaide Law School PhD Candidate Mark Bruerton explores its purpose and operation in our federation. Last Friday, we witnessed the regular pilgrimage of state and territory leaders to meet with the Prime Minister in the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). This ritual, despite being one which has been […]

The constitutional recognition of local government in Australia has been on the political agenda for decades. Dr Gabrielle Appleby explores the latest proposals on this subject. In January this year, a joint parliamentary committee made a recommendation in a preliminary report that the ability of the Commonwealth to grant financial assistance to local government be constitutionally […]

One complaint that students studying Australian Constitutional Law will make from time to time is that the subject matter that they are studying rarely has a directly affect on their day-to-day lives (unless they are selling crayfish, constructing dams or committing war crimes). I, of course, reject that proposition and a recent trip to Sydney […]

On Saturday the Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings announced that her government would introduce a Bill to allow same-sex marriage in that State. Giddings claimed she had legal opinions supporting the constitutionality of the measure, including from the Tasmanian Solicitor-General. UNSW constitutional law academic Professor George Williams has also written on the issue claiming State same-sex […]

The South Australian Chapter of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law is proud to host The High Court’s New Spectacles: Re-envisioning executive power after Williams v Commonwealth On 20 June 2012, the High Court changed our understanding of the nature of the Commonwealth’s executive power. With some exceptions, the Commonwealth may not enter into contracts […]